This invention relates to a device for the preservation of samples in particular for bacteriological examinations, isolation of micro-organisms and development of isolation colonies, of the type comprising an element carrying at least one selective culture medium and insertable into a first container, and a distributor member slidable with slight contact along said selective culture medium, and to a method for seeding the samples onto said culture medium.
Various devices of the aforesaid type are known (see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,589,983, 4,801,567 and 4,859,586). In known devices, in order to effect the desired examination if is always necessary for a laboratory analyst to place the sample to be analyzed, and/or the biological development liquid in which said sample is immersed, into the container containing the element provided with the culture medium.
Examples of such samples are feces, urine, excretion, nasal or ear swabs, and other materials withdrawn for diagnostic purposes.
The operations involved in filling the container present considerable drawbacks.
In this respect the laboratory analyst can easily come into contact with such samples, with possible serious risk to his health.
In addition, the samples often emit a bad odour, which is inhaled by the laboratory analyst during the filling operations.
The laboratory analyst then seeds the sample on the culture medium using the distributor member.
In known devices this seeding can only be achieved substantially vertically, parallel to the major axis of the culture medium.